Undead Books - (I Am Legend thread turned Zombie Lit.)

[Annerios]

Originally Posted by Guerillinator

I am Legend, Stephen King's the Cell. If you liked these books try Briane Keane--his zombie novels in particular are amazing. Try in this order: The Rising, City of the Dead, Dead Sea (he has other books, too--Ghoul is particularly good).

I have not read Dead Sea yet, but The Rising and City of the Dead were very intense zombie books. The fact that animals such as birds are also the enemy in his scenario makes survival very difficult.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Originally Posted by Annerios

I have not read Dead Sea yet, but The Rising and City of the Dead were very intense zombie books. The fact that animals such as birds are also the enemy in his scenario makes survival very difficult.

Guerillinator let me borrow the three books.
I'm up to page 60 of The Rising. I love the idea behind why the dead are returning to life.
The zombie animals makes me wonder if any humans will survive at all!
Scary stuff, G-nator!

[Guerillinator]

Originally Posted by Hex_Enduction_Hour

Guerillinator let me borrow the three books.
I'm up to page 60 of The Rising. I love the idea behind why the dead are returning to life.
The zombie animals makes me wonder if any humans will survive at all!
Scary stuff, G-nator!

And to think Hex, you haven't got to the really scary parts of the book yet

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

SMIDGEN OF A SPOILER AHEAD

Originally Posted by Guerillinator

And to think Hex, you haven't got to the really scary parts of the book yet

Finished it last night!
That was a darned, dispicable ending.


The undead flocks of birds I found awesome, but they seem to come and go whenever Keene found it convienent for the story's action. The scene where zombie birds take out the 'copter was insane!

The intelligent zombies, coupled with the undead fauna, make the hope for any human survival truly dismal.

I'll jump into the next volume this weekend.

[Annerios]

Look on the bright side. At least you did not have to wait for months like I did to read the second book and find out how it ends!

By the way, there is a scene in the Resident Evil: Extinction movie featuring an undead flock of birds that reminded me of these books. Undead birds suck!

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Originally Posted by Annerios

Look on the bright side. At least you did not have to wait for months like I did to read the second book and find out how it ends!

Truly, that would suck.


~


I don't think Keene is that great of a writer. After reading Cell last year, I came away with a bigger respect for Stephen King's skill.

Keene gets the job done for a Zombie series, but he never dazzles me with any particularly strong writing. I did like the scene where Martin and the father hunter enter the valley hunting for game. It was a vivid scene until the undead deer show up then it was back to business a usual.

Like my undead flock comment in the post above, it seems Keene pulls out the hordes (human or animal) when the story needs action. I kept expecting the places to be swarming with undead, yet the characters seemed to cruise along the highways without nearly any problem.


The scene where Jim goes into the barn to kill off the undead cows didn't seem logical - Why go in? Why kill the cows if they're contained within the pens? Why risk attracting zombie hordes with the gunfire?

[Annerios]

Originally Posted by Hex_Enduction_Hour

I don't think Keene is that great of a writer. After reading Cell last year, I came away with a bigger respect for Stephen King's skill.

I enjoy King's stuff for the most part. He has written so much that you are bound to find something you like and, if anything, he knows how to create memorable characters. Cell was mean and trim compared to his usual long tales.

I'm just treating myself to the entire Gunslinger Born series he did with Marvel for the Dark Tower. A lot of people thought it was too much retread of Wizard and Glass, but I love that book. I am happy to see it in comics form with the illustrated guidebook, etc.

Originally Posted by Hex_Enduction_Hour

Keene gets the job done for a Zombie series, but he never dazzles me with any particularly strong writing. I did like the scene where Martin and the father hunter enter the valley hunting for game. It was a vivid scene until the undead deer show up then it was back to business a usual.

Yeah, I was not struck by the writing skill in particular, but the story is intense and really picks up in the 2nd book. I liked the ending too.

It is funny, because I read another series of zombie books by an author named Len Barnhart around the same time as The Rising and they also feature a protagonist named Jim! Barnhart's writing skill did not impress either, but the tale of a more traditional Romero zombie invasion was not bad.

They don't beat The Walking Dead, though. That one is still a favorite of mine. The last graphic novel compilation for that series has a nasty cliffhanger ending which is torturing me now!

I have a couple of other zombie books sitting on my shelf I have not gotten to yet: Monster Island and Monster Nation by David Wellington. Anyone read those?

[Guerillinator]

Hex isn't the first person to complain about Keane's ending in The Rising. In the introduction to the second book (City of the Dead), he notes he got many complaints about that ending. As a result, he somewhat revises it, starting the second book by retelling the end of the first from a slightly different point of view to explain what happened in more detail. Trust me, the ending to the second book is not ambiguous.

I also agree that he is not the best writer of horror fiction, although I think he is decent. I always think that a good book ends up being character driven, but the strength of his books is the plot and action. I think the reason I enjoyed these so much is that the action is relentless and they are quick reads. Some elements may be contrived, but the pacing and atmosphere of pending, inescapable doom are great. And the massive scale of the books is interesting as well. With that said, my favorite Keane book of his is Ghoul, probably because the characters are a lot more well rounded.

[Fezzikthedoor]

@Annerios--

Yeah, I've read them both. Plod your way thru Monster Island: you can tell it is a first effort and it isn't very well written, in all honesty. The editing on the book is also horrible; I was amazed at the number of boo boos that slipped through the cracks. It does set up an interesting take on the zombie outbreak with one of the main characters, though, that then lends itself well to the next two books he writes. Monster Nation is a HUGE step up in terms of his writing and the overall strength of the main character/plot. The third book, Monster World (I think) is a pretty strong book too, though it feels more like a video game at times with some of the concepts.

His vampire book, 13 bullets, was pretty good as well, although I think he took a step backwards in terms of his plot; he relies on the tried and true writer's crutch of "everything having to work out 'just so'" near the end and it hurts the novel. It is one of the more unique takes on the vampire mythos that I've read, though. It's not quite as big a departure as Lumley took in his Necroscope books, but it is a pretty big change from the norm.

All his books are available to read for free online, btw, on his website; he originally did his first two as web-books. Of course, after you read them do what I did and order them as a present for the zombie-lover in your life. Always support your authors, I say.

Hope this helps without giving anything away.

-Fezzik

[Annerios]

Originally Posted by Fezzikthedoor

@Annerios--

Hope this helps without giving anything away.

-Fezzik

It does. Thanks. I noticed the editing on several zombie books I've read not being quite up to snuff. Spelling mistakes and other issues were noticeable. It is sad to hear I'll be seeing it again in these books.

If it is an interesting take on the outbreak scenario, I'm sure I'll enjoy some of it.

For those of you that enjoy short stories, there are quite a few zombie short story collections out there that are entertaining. You may be able to find them in used book shops, etc:

The Mammoth Book of Zombies
Book of the Dead
Still Dead: Book of the Dead 2
The Ultimate Zombie
The Book of All Flesh
The Book of More Flesh
The Book of Final Flesh

Anthologies are always a hit or miss affair, so there will many stories you don't like, but you will read a wide variety of approaches to zombies. Plus, you will find gems in there like Robert Silverberg's Passengers...

[The Super Atheist]

Except the obvious zombie survival guide and world war z, are there any other good zombie books?


What I mean is a zombie book that has nothing to do with some voodoo priest or some other magic crap. I mean some science fiction bacteria/virus outbreak zombies.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Originally Posted by Annerios

Yeah, I was not struck by the writing skill in particular, but the story is intense and really picks up in the 2nd book. I liked the ending too.

Originally Posted by Guerillinator

I also agree that he is not the best writer of horror fiction, although I think he is decent. I always think that a good book ends up being character driven, but the strength of his books is the plot and action. I think the reason I enjoyed these so much is that the action is relentless and they are quick reads.

I have to apologize for critiquing Keene too hard on the first book, The Rising. I should take it for what it is and enjoy the terrifying journey.

I'm about halfway through City of the Dead. I'll get through about ten pages before I start nodding off each evening in bed. I have to admit last night I had a horrible dream that was most definitely influenced by the latest read. Good thing or bad?


It's a guilty pleasure to feel the doom and gloom encroaching on the characters. There is a glimmer of a hope for a solution with the sonic weapon the 'tower people' employ on their 'copter.
I'm hoping they can tweek the frequency just a bit more to affect the human zombies and not just the undead fowl!


I'm enjoying this second book more than the first.